Euler’s Formula is one of the most powerful mathematical
results, and it’s due to one of the most prolific mathematicians that ever
lived, Leonhard Euler. He published over 800 papers throughout his life—many of
them while blind.
His
result looks quite simple at first glance: e^(i*pi)+1=0. For those that don’t
know, both e and pi are mathematical constants which come up in all sorts of
unexpected places, and i stands for the imaginary unit, a number which is equal
to the square root of -1. The remarkable thing about Euler’s Formula is how it
manages to combine five of the most important numbers in all of math (e, i, pi,
0, and 1) into such an elegant equation. It has been called by physicist
Richard Feynman “the most remarkable formula in mathematics”, and its
importance lies in its ability to unify multiple aspects of math.